Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories

Last updated
Bin Laden's compound Osama bin Laden compound1.jpg
Bin Laden's compound

The death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, gave rise to various conspiracy theories, hoaxes and rumors. [1] These include the ideas that he had died earlier, or that he lived beyond the reported date. Doubts about Bin Laden's death were fueled by the U.S. military's supposed disposal of his body at sea, [2] the decision to not release any photographic or DNA evidence of Bin Laden's death to the public, [3] the contradicting accounts of the incident (with the official story on the raid appearing to change or directly contradict previous assertions), [4] and the 25-minute blackout during the raid on Bin Laden's compound during which a live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the U.S. special forces was cut off. [5] [6]

Contents

Within hours, an image purporting to show a dead Bin Laden was broadcast on Pakistani television. Although the story was picked up by much of the British press, as well the Associated Press, it was swiftly removed from websites after it was exposed as a fake on Twitter. [7] [8]

On May 4, the Obama administration announced it would not release any images of Bin Laden's dead body. [9] The administration said it had considered releasing the photos to dispel rumors of a hoax, at the risks of perhaps prompting another attack by al Qaeda and of releasing very graphic images to people who might find them disturbing. [1] [10] Several photos of the aftermath of the raid were given to Reuters by an anonymous Pakistani security official, but though all appeared to be authentic, they were taken after the U.S. forces had left and none of them included evidence regarding Bin Laden's fate. [11]

On May 6, it was reported that an al-Qaeda website acknowledged bin Laden's death. [12] On May 11, Republican senator and Senate Armed Services Committee member Jim Inhofe stated he had viewed "gruesome" photographs of Bin Laden's corpse, and later confirmed that the body "was him", adding, "He's history". [13]

On May 21, 2015, journalist Seymour Hersh published a report [14] claiming that Pakistan had kept Bin Laden under house arrest since 2006, that the U.S. had learned of Bin Laden's location through a Pakistani intelligence official and not through tracking a courier, [15] [16] [17] and that elements of the Pakistani military aided the U.S. in killing bin Laden. [15] [18] The White House denied Hersh's report. [19] [20]

Previous lack of physical evidence

The primary source of skepticism about the U.S. government's story has been its own refusal to provide any physical evidence to substantiate its claim. Although the Abbottabad raid has been described in great detail by U.S. officials, no physical evidence constituting actual proof of his death has been offered to the public, neither to journalists nor to independent third parties who have requested this information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). [21] Numerous organizations filed FOIA requests seeking at least a partial release of photographs, videos, and/or DNA test results, including The Associated Press, Reuters, CBS News, Judicial Watch, Politico , Fox News, Citizens United, and NPR. [22] At the time of filing their FOIA request, The Associated Press said:

This information is important for the historical record. That's our view.

— Michael Oreskes, Senior Managing Editor, The Associated Press [21]

On April 26, 2012, a US federal judge decided in the case Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense, et al that the DoD did not need to release any evidence to the public.

On 20 May 2015, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a sizeable number of documents recovered from the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was hiding. On 1 March 2016, the ODNI released a second tranche of material gleaned from the Abbottabad raid. On January 19, 2017, the ODNI released the final tranche of documents. ODNI said of the releases "[these releases] which followed a rigorous interagency review, align with the President’s call for increased transparency–consistent with national security prerogatives–and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release." [23] The documents can be accessed publicly on the ODNI website.

On November 1, 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released nearly 470,000 files that included draft versions of items previously reviewed as well as other correspondence and materials outside the scope of previous declassification reviews. [24] These files are available online as part of the CIA library. One of those files was Bin Laden's diary.

Burial at sea

USS Carl Vinson, which carried Bin Laden's body to sea USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) underway in the Pacific Ocean on 31 May 2015.JPG
USS Carl Vinson, which carried Bin Laden's body to sea

Doubts about Bin Laden's death were fueled by the U.S. military's disposal of his body at sea, though U.S. officials maintained that the burial was necessary because arrangements could not be made with any country to bury Bin Laden within 24 hours, as dictated by Muslim practice. [1] The Muslim practice has not always been followed by the U.S. For example, the bodies of Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, were held for eleven days before release for burial. [25] In that instance, several Iraqi cities refused to receive them. [25]

The decision to bury Bin Laden at sea was questioned by terrorists, Islamic clerics, and by some 9/11 survivors and the relatives of the victims. [26] [27] Professor Peter Romaniuk of John Jay College described the burial at sea as a way to forestall further questions. He stated: "Obviously they're going to be under pressure to show a body or produce further evidence, but this was a way of taking that issue off the table." [2] A stated advantage of a burial at sea is that the site is not readily identified or accessed, thus preventing it from becoming a focus of attention or "terrorist shrine". [28]

Theories

In Pakistan

Senior Pakistani officials disseminated the theory that no firefight ever took place, and that whomever the U.S. forces captured, they executed him outside the compound, and took his body away on a helicopter. [29]

Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), stated in an interview with CNN that he believed Bin Laden had died many years ago, and that the official death story given out by the American media was a hoax. [30] Furthermore, he thinks the American government knew about Bin Laden's death for years, "They must have known that he had died some years ago so they were waiting. They were keeping this story on the ice and they were looking for an appropriate moment and it couldn't be a better moment because President Obama had to fight off his first salvo in his next year's election as he runs for the presidential and for the White House and I think it is a very appropriate time to come out, bring this out of the closet." [30]

Yet another scenario was reported in an article in the Urdu newspaper Ausaf , which quoted military sources as saying, "Bin Laden has been killed somewhere else. But since the US intends to extend the Afghan war into Pakistan, and accuse Pakistan, and obtain a permit for its military's entry into the country, it has devised the [assassination] scenario." [31]

Bashir Qureshi, who lives close to the compound where Bin Laden was shot and whose windows were blown out in the raid, was dismissive. "Nobody believes it. We've never seen any Arabs around here, he was not here." [32]

In Iran

A number of Iranians said they believed that Bin Laden was working with the U.S. during the entire war on terror. Ismail Kosari, an Iranian MP, said that Bin Laden "was just a puppet controlled by the Zionist regime in order to present a violent image of Islam after the September 11 attacks", and that his death "reflects the passing of a temporary US pawn, and symbolizes the end of one era and the beginning of another in American policy in the region". [33] Another MP, Javad Jahangirzadeh, said that it was the U.S. that had carried out the terrorist attacks, and Bin Laden was the main source of help. He stated, "The West has been very pleased with bin Laden's operations in recent years. Now the West was forced to kill him in order to prevent a possible leak of information he had, information more precious than gold." [33]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "I have exact information that bin Laden was held by the American military for sometime... until the day they killed him he was a prisoner held by them," in a live interview on Iranian state television. [34]

Seymour Hersh

On May 21, 2015, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh published a 10,000 word report (later a book -- The Killing of Osama bin Laden) challenging most aspects of the official account of Osama's death. [14] [35] Among other things, the report claims that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had kept bin Laden under house arrest at Abbottabad since 2006, and that when the US discovered this, Pakistani Army chief Pervez Kayani and ISI director Ahmad Shuja Pasha helped the U.S. in killing, not capturing Bin Laden. [15] [18] Hersh's U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources stated that the U.S. had learned of Bin Laden's location through a "walk-in", a former ISI officer who came to the US embassy in Islamabad in 2010 [36] seeking the $25 million reward, and not through tracking a courier. This claim had been previously reported by R.J. Hillhouse and was confirmed afterwards by NBC news. [15] [16] [17] The White House denied Hersh's report. [19] [20]

Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid in the New York Review of Books finds the cooperation between the CIA and ISI that Hersh describes "inconceivable", in part because 2011 was "the worst year in US-Pakistan relations since the late 1980s" and "hatred and mistrust" between the CIA and ISI was "acute"—something Hersh does not mention in his article/book. [36] Among the incidents that occurred in Pakistan in the months before the killing of Bin Laden were the killing of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, numerous death threats against the Islamabad CIA station chief after his name was leaked (purportedly by the ISI), the cessation of the issuing of visas for US officials, following which the entire US consulate in Lahore was shut down and moved to Islamabad over concerns about security; [36] increased US anger over the refusal of Pakistan to exert pressure on the Taliban and Haqqani group; the death of 40 Pakistanis including many civilians and later 24 Pakistani soldiers from US drone strikes, the cut off of US supplies to Afghanistan by Pakistan. [36] Further adding to the implausibility of Hersh's theory, according to Rashid, is the unlikeliness that either the US would have "calmly accepted" Pakistan's hiding/protecting Bin Laden, or that the dozens of Pakistani military, police, fire and bureaucrats—whose silence/complicity would have been required for a successful conspiracy—would have cooperated with the American incursion. While there was little or no disapproval by the Pakistan public over Bin Laden's long residency in Pakistan, the US attack on the compound of Bin Laden was so unpopular that just the failure of the military to detect and go after the US helicopters ignited outrage among the media, the public and the civilian government. [36]

Andrew Anthony, in his review of the book for The Guardian , acknowledged the US government's "long and inglorious history of attempting to bury the facts" but found Hersh's theories "forceful but unconvincing". [37] Zach Dorfman, in the Los Angeles Times , called Hersh's judgment about the veracity of his sources "mixed, at best" while acknowledging "the danger of a regime of excessive secrecy in international affairs [...] of which Hersh is rightly and acutely aware". [38] (Rashid, Anthony, and Dorfman were also skeptical of another theory expounded in Hersh's book—that the Ghouta chemical attack that killed hundreds of Syrian civilians were instigated not by the Syrian government, but by rebels aided by Turkey working as agents provocateurs, blaming the Syrian government in hopes of forcing the Obama administration to enter the war against the government.)

Internet

Facebook groups formed discussing a rumor, in what has been dubbed the "death hoax". [32] [39] Some blogs theorised that the raid and killing were faked, in a conspiracy to attempt to deflect questions about President Obama's citizenship, or to boost Obama's approval ratings and guarantee his popularity during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. [39]

Others

In 2002, the FBI's top counter-terrorism official, Dale Watson, said, "I personally think he (Osama bin Laden) is probably not with us anymore." [40] Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan stated "If you believe the newest death of OBL, you're stupid". [41] [42] Sheehan further stated on her Facebook page, "The only proof of [bin Laden] being dead again that we were offered was Obama telling us that there was a DNA match between the man killed by the Navy SEALs and OBL. Even if it is possible to get DNA done so quickly, and the regime did have bin Laden DNA lying around a lab somewhere – where is the empirical proof?" [43]

On Russia Today, radio host Alex Jones claimed that Bin Laden had been dead for nearly ten years, and that his body had been kept in liquid nitrogen so that it can be used as a propaganda tool at a future politically expedient time. He claimed that in 2002 an anonymous White House source had told him that Bin Laden "is frozen, literally frozen and that he would be rolled out in the future at some date". [44] In a separate interview in 2002, Steve Pieczenik told Jones that Bin Laden had been dead for months. [45] Jones also pointed to similar comments made by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2003, "Yes we have been told by intelligence that they've got him, Bush may roll him out but because they exposed that at the election they didn't do it". [44] Jones further voiced doubts about the official story of bin Laden's death on his radio show telling his listeners, "My friends, this is a complete and total hoax." [43]

Andrew Napolitano, the host of the Fox Business program Freedom Watch , said bin Laden's death could not be verified and insinuated that Obama was using the death of bin Laden to save his "lousy presidency." [46] An article in Mediaite criticized Napolitano's remarks, opining that "such conspiracy talk is ultimately beneath Napolitano and his often enlightened discussions." [47]

Canadian deputy Leader of the Opposition and MP, Thomas Mulcair, stated in an interview with CBC Television that "I don't think from what I've heard that those pictures [of bin Laden's body] exist". [48] His remarks were picked up by dozens of U.S. media outlets, [49] and criticized by various Canadian politicians. [49] [50] [51] [52]

An official statement from the Taliban stated that the lack of photos or video footage is suspicious, as their own sources close to Bin Laden had not confirmed or denied his death, and that "when the Americans killed Mullah Dadullah (Taliban's chief military commander) they publicly showed the footage". [53]

In October 2020, then-U.S. President Donald Trump retweeted an article which claimed that the Osama that was killed in the raid wasn't him but was actually a body double. [54]

Several news agencies and intelligence agencies reported his death as being before 9/11 or shortly after from renal failure. Western intelligence official reports Bin Laden is seriously ill with kidney and liver disease. [55] Bin Laden, who suffers from renal deficiency, has been periodically undergoing dialysis in a Peshawar military hospital with the knowledge and approval of the Inter-Services Intelligence, (ISI) if not of Gen.Pervez Musharraf himself. [56] Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA. [57] In December 2001 the New York Times reported that he was likely dead. [58]

Late December 2001 to March 2002: Bin Laden's "Death Video" was released. that month, after reports of Bin Laden's funeral, a new video appeared, depicting a gaunt, sickly Osama bin Laden. The London Telegraph reported,"The recording was dismissed by the Bush administration yesterday as sick propaganda, possibly designed to mask the fact the al-Qa'eda leader was already dead." [59] In March and April 2002, U.S. officials downplayed the threat of bin Laden, with Rumsfeld even saying he had been "neutralized." Even Bush, called out for rarely mentioning bin Laden in 2002, admitted: "We haven't heard from him [bin Laden] in a long time... I don't know where he is. I really just don't spend that much time on him, to be honest with you." [60]

In July 2002, CNN reported that Bin Laden's close bodyguards were captured in February 2002, but not bin Laden. The article also quoted high-level officials: "Some high-level U.S. officials are already convinced by such evidence that bin Laden, who has not been seen or heard from in months, is dead." [61] In October 2002, intelligence officials confirmed Bin Laden is dead, and his will was released. Also in October 2002, the Washington D.C.-based news service The World Tribune, citing Israeli intelligence sources, reported that the United States and Israel have concluded that bin Laden died in Afghanistan in December 2001. They noted that additional bin Laden messages are "probably fabrications," and that bin Laden's heir had been chosen. [62] Intelligence officials have obtained Osama bin Laden's will, which was dated December 14, 2001 (approximately the same date as has been reported Bin Laden's funeral in Tora Bora by Fox News and other outlets). CNN also reported that there has been no evidence of Bin Laden since December 2001. [63]

In 2004, the LA Times quotes Donald Rumsfeld as admitting: "We've not seen him [bin Laden] on a video since 2001." [64] In 2006, the New York Times reported the CIA had officially closed down the unit focused on capturing Bin Laden the previous year. [65] In 2006, U.S. and Pakistani officials said they have not received any information about Bin Laden in years: "no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image." The article rehashes the December 2001 video of Bin Laden as the most recent evidence (other than a second-hand claim from 2003) of Bin Laden's existence. [66]

Numerous other conspiracy theories relating to Bin Laden's death that were discussed include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osama bin Laden</span> Militant leader (1957–2011)

Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. After issuing his declaration of war against the Americans in 1996, Bin Laden began advocating attacks targeting U.S. assets in several countries, and supervised al-Qaeda’s execution of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seymour Hersh</span> American investigative journalist (born 1937)

Seymour Myron Hersh is an American investigative journalist and political writer. He gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. During the 1970s, Hersh covered the Watergate scandal for The New York Times, also reporting on the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia and the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) program of domestic spying. In 2004, he detailed the U.S. military's torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq for The New Yorker. Hersh has won a record five George Polk Awards, and two National Magazine Awards. He is the author of 11 books, including The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House (1983), an account of the career of Henry Kissinger which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Activities Center</span> Covert and paramilitary unit of the American Central Intelligence Agency

The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within SAC there are two separate groups: SAC/SOG for tactical paramilitary operations and SAC/PAG for covert political action.

Michael F. Scheuer, is an American former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, blogger, author, commentator and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. One assignment during his 22-year career was serving as Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station from 1996 to 1999. He also served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Alec Station from September 2001 to November 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inter-Services Intelligence</span> Military intelligence service of Pakistan

The Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the Pakistani government.

Raelynn J. Hillhouse is an American national security and Intelligence community analyst, former smuggler during the Cold War, spy novelist and health care executive.

Osama bin Laden, the founder and former leader of al-Qaeda, went into hiding following the start of the War in Afghanistan in order to avoid capture by the United States for his role in the September 11 attacks, and having been on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 1999. After evading capture at the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, his whereabouts became unclear, and various rumours about his health, continued role in al-Qaeda, and location were circulated. Bin Laden also released several video and audio recordings during this time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Bergen</span> American journalist (born 1962)

Peter Lampert Bergen is an American journalist, author, and producer who is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America, a professor at Arizona State University, and the host of the Audible podcast In the Room with Peter Bergen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Osama bin Laden</span> 2011 U.S. military operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan

On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led mission, with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the "Night Stalkers", and the CIA's Special Activities Division, which heavily recruits from former JSOC Special Mission Units. The success of the operation ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden, who was accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden</span>

Several sources have alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had ties with Osama bin Laden's faction of "Afghan Arab" fighters when it armed Mujahideen groups to fight the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War.

This is a list of activities ostensibly carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) within Pakistan. It has been alleged by such authors as Ahmed Rashid that the CIA and ISI have been waging a clandestine war. The Afghan Taliban—with whom the United States was officially in conflict—was headquartered in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas during the war and according to some reports is largely funded by the ISI. The Pakistani government denies this.

Pakistan's role in the War on Terror is a widely discussed topic among policy-makers of various countries, political analysts and international delegates around the world. Pakistan has simultaneously received allegations of harbouring and aiding terrorists and commendation for its anti-terror efforts. Since 2001, the country has also hosted millions of Afghan refugees who fled the war in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reactions to the killing of Osama bin Laden</span> Aspect of 21st Century events

On May 2, 2011, United States President Barack Obama confirmed that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in his compound in Abbottabad, northeastern Pakistan. Bin Laden's death was welcomed by many as a positive and significant turning point in the fight against al-Qaeda and related groups. Those who welcomed it included the United Nations, European Union, NATO, and some nations in Asia, Africa, Oceania, South America, and the Middle East, including Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, Israel, Indonesia, Somalia, the Philippines, Turkey, Iraq, Australia, Argentina, and the rebel Libyan Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad</span> Former mansion in Pakistan

Osama bin Laden's compound, known locally as the Waziristan Haveli, was a large, upper-class house within a walled compound used as a safe house for Saudi militant Islamist Osama bin Laden, who was shot and killed there by U.S. forces on 2 May 2011. The compound was located at the end of a dirt road 1,300 metres southwest of the Pakistan Military Academy in Bilal Town, Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, a suburb housing many retired military officers. Bin Laden was reported to have evaded capture by living in a section of the house for at least five years, having no Internet or phone connection, and hiding away from the public, who were unaware of his presence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alleged Pakistani support for Osama bin Laden</span> Relationship between the state of Pakistan and Osama bin Laden

Pakistan was alleged to have provided support for Osama bin Laden. These claims have been made both before and after Osama was found living in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and was killed by a team of United States Navy SEALs on 2 May 2011. The compound itself was located just half a mile from Pakistan's premier military training academy Kakul Military Academy (PMA) in Abbottabad. In the aftermath of bin Laden's death, American president Barack Obama asked Pakistan to investigate the network that sustained bin Laden. "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan", Obama said in a 60 Minutes interview with CBS News. He also added that the United States was not sure "who or what that support network was." In addition to this, in an interview with Time magazine, CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that US-officials did not alert Pakistani counterparts to the raid because they feared the terrorist leader would be warned. However, the documents recovered from bin Laden's compound 'contained nothing to support the idea that bin Laden was protected or supported by the Pakistani officials'. Instead, the documents contained criticism of Pakistani military and future plans for attack against the Pakistani military installations.

Arshad Khan, commonly known as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti was a Kuwaiti-born Pakistani courier for Osama bin Laden.

<i>Situation Room</i> (photograph) Photo of U.S. national security officials during Operation Neptune Spear

Situation Room is a photograph taken by Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer, at 4:05 p.m. on May 1, 2011. The photograph shows U.S. president Barack Obama and his national security team in the White House Situation Room receiving live updates from Operation Neptune Spear, which led to the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Shakil Afridi, or Shakeel Afridi, is a Pakistani physician who allegedly helped the CIA run a fake hepatitis vaccine program in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in order to confirm Osama bin Laden's presence in the city by obtaining DNA samples. Details of his activities emerged during the Pakistani investigation of the deadly raid on bin Laden's residence. This account is disputed in a recent account of events which implies Afridi was implicated as a cover for the real CIA operative. Afridi was arrested at the Torkham while trying to flee the country days after the raid. On 23 May 2012, he was sentenced to 33 years' imprisonment for treason, initially believed to be in connection with the bin Laden raid, but later revealed to be due to alleged ties with a local Islamist warlord Mangal Bagh. Lawyers appealed against the verdict on 1 June 2012. On 29 August 2013, his sentence was overturned and a retrial ordered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund</span>

Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, Inc. (OPSEC) is a 501(c)(4) organization formed in the United States in 2012 to conduct a media campaign critical of President Obama by accusing his administration of disclosing sensitive information about the killing of Osama bin Laden and taking too much credit for the operation. In response, the Obama Campaign compared the organization's efforts to the "Swift Boat" attacks against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbottabad Commission Report</span> Investigation results surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces

The Abbottabad Commission Report is a judicial inquiry paper authored and submitted by the Abbottabad Commission, led by Justice Javaid Iqbal, to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on 4 January 2013. The report investigates the circumstances surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. Upon submission, the report was immediately classified by the Prime Minister and its findings were not made public.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gold, Matea; Cloud, David S.; Brown, Eryn (May 3, 2011). "Osama bin Laden dead: Bin Laden's burial at sea fuels 'death hoax' rumor". Los Angeles Times.
  2. 1 2 Alison Bowen. "Osama bin Laden: Conspiracy theories thrive on lack of proof". Metro. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
  3. ↑ Richard Lardner (Sep 28, 2011). "US tells court bin Laden photos must stay secret". Washington. Associated Press.
  4. ↑ Robert Booth (May 4, 2011). "The killing of Osama bin Laden: how the White House changed its story". Guardian. London.
  5. ↑ Swinford, Steven (May 4, 2011). "Osama bin Laden dead: Blackout during raid on bin Laden compound". Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on May 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ Steven Swinford (May 6, 2011). "Doubts grow on US version of strike against bin Laden". Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ↑ Amelia Hill (May 2, 2011). "Osama bin Laden corpse photo is fake". Guardian. London.
  8. ↑ "Bin Laden death photo: FAKE!". MilitaryTimes. Archived from the original on 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  9. ↑ Montopoli, Brian (2011-05-04). "Obama: I won't release bin Laden death photos ." CBS News . Retrieved 2011-05-04.
  10. ↑ "Osama bin Laden killed: live coverage". Telegraph. London.
  11. ↑ Allbritton, Chris; John Boyle (4 May 2011). "Photos show three dead men at bin Laden raid house". Reuters . Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  12. ↑ Douglas Stanglin (May 6, 2011). "Al-Qaeda confirms bin Laden's death, threatens new attacks". USA Today.
  13. ↑ Members of Congress see bin Laden photos, CNN.com, May 11, 2011
  14. 1 2 Seymour M. Hersh (20 May 2015). "The Killing of Osama bin Laden". London Review of Books. 37 (10).
  15. 1 2 3 4 Hersh, Seymour (21 May 2015). "The Killing of Osama bin Laden". The London Review of Books. Retrieved 11 May 2015– via The London Review of Books.
  16. 1 2 Schwarz, Jon; Devereaux, Ryan (12 May 2015). "CLAIM: SY HERSH'S BIN LADEN STORY IS TRUE — BUT OLD NEWS". The Intercept. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  17. 1 2 Cole, Matthew; Esposito, Richard; Windrem, Robert; Mitchell, Andrea (11 May 2015). "Pakistanis Knew Where Osama Bin Laden Was, U.S. Sources Say". NBC News. NBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Osama Bin Laden was an unarmed elderly 'invalid' when Navy Seals killed him and Barack Obama lied about the mission, report claims" . The Independent. 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  19. 1 2 "White House dismisses new Osama bin Laden raid claims". Telegraph. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  20. 1 2 "'Utter nonsense': CIA and White House blast Seymour Hersh's explosive Osama bin Laden raid story". Washington Post. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  21. 1 2 John Hudson (May 10, 2011). "The Associated Press's Case for Releasing the Bin Laden Photo". The Atlantic Wire. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  22. ↑ John Hudson (May 9, 2011). "A Look at Who's FOIAing the Bin Laden Death Photo". The Atlantic Wire. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Bin Laden's Bookshelf". Director of National Intelligence . Retrieved 26 Oct 2022.
  24. ↑ "November 2017 Release of Abbottabad Compound Material". CIA Library. Retrieved 26 Oct 2022.
  25. 1 2 Brian Whitaker (May 2, 2011). "Bin Laden's body buried at sea". Guardian. London.
  26. ↑ "Muslims furious about Osama sea burial – Daylife". Fuse.tv. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
  27. ↑ "Osama bin Laden's burial at sea: critics range from 9/11 families to militants". The Christian Science Monitor.
  28. ↑ "Osama Bin Laden Body Headed for Burial at Sea, Officials Say". ABC News. May 2, 2011. Archived from the original on May 2, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  29. ↑ Yusufzai, Mushtaq (2011-05-04). Bin Laden's daughter confirms her father shot dead by US Special Forces in Pakistan. Al-Arabiya. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
  30. 1 2 "Former Pakistani intel chief: Obama lying". CNN. May 5, 2011. Archived from the original on May 10, 2011. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  31. 1 2 Kingsley, Patrick; Jones, Sam (May 5, 2011). "Osama bin Laden death: The conspiracy theories". The Guardian . London. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  32. 1 2 "Osama bin Laden killed: conspiracy theories proliferate in wake of raid". Telegraph. London. May 3, 2011.
  33. 1 2 "Iran's reaction to Osama death ranges from skepticism to conspiracy theories". International Business Times . May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Bin Laden was a US prisoner before being killed: Iran". Times of India. Archived from the original on 2016-08-22.
  35. ↑ The story was later released as a book. Hersh, Seymour M. (2016). The Killing of Osama bin Laden. Verso.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 Rashid, Ahmed (September 29, 2016). "Sy Hersh and Osama bin Laden: The Right and the Wrong [complete article behind paywall]". New York Review of Books. 63 (14): 30, 32. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  37. ↑ Anthony, Andrew (18 April 2016). "The Killing of Osama bin Laden by Seymour M Hersh – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  38. ↑ Dorfman, Zach (14 April 2016). "Review 'The Killing of Osama Bin Laden' by Seymour Hersh details a grave threat to our democracy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  39. 1 2 "Bin Laden's sea burial fuels conspiracy theories". kwch. Archived from the original on 2011-05-06. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
  40. ↑ "Is Osama bin Laden Dying ... Again?". Time. June 30, 2008. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008.
  41. ↑ Geraghty, Jim (2011-05-02). Cindy Sheehan: 'If you believe the newest death of OBL, you're stupid.'. National Review. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  42. 1 2 "Osama photo decision fuels conspiracy theories". International Business Times . May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  43. 1 2 Travis, Shannon (May 5, 2011). "'Deathers' take over where 'birthers' left off". CNN International . Retrieved May 10, 2011.
  44. 1 2 Davis, Richard (May 3, 2011). "Alex Jones claims Bin Laden 'mission' is a fake". Economic Voice. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  45. ↑ Wax, Emily (May 2, 2011). "Report of bin Laden's death spurs questions from conspiracy theorists". Washington Post . Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  46. ↑ CNN: 'Deathers' take over where 'birthers' left off. May 5, 2011.
  47. ↑ Schneider, Matt (May 3, 2011). "Judge Napolitano On Bin Laden's Death: Is Obama 'Pulling A Fast One' To Save 'Lousy Presidency'?". Mediaite.
  48. ↑ "Conspiracy theory: NDP deputy leader Mulcair doubts U.S. has bin Laden photos". The Canadian Press . May 4, 2011. Archived from the original on May 8, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  49. 1 2 Kaszor, Daniel (May 4, 2011). "NDP MP Thomas Mulcair questions Bin Laden pictures". National Post.
  50. ↑ "Conspiracy theory: NDP deputy leader Mulcair doubts U.S. has bin Laden photos". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. May 4, 2011.
  51. ↑ Payton, Laura (May 4, 2011). "NDP deputy leader doubts bin Laden photos exist". CBC.
  52. ↑ Ibbitson, John (May 4, 2011). "NDP's deputy leader doubts existence of bin Laden photos". Globe and Mail. Toronto. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  53. ↑ "Conspiracy Theories". Indian Express . May 5, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  54. ↑ Brewster, Jack. "Trump Promotes Baseless, QAnon-Endorsed Conspiracy Theory Alleging Obama Staged Bin Laden's Killing". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  55. ↑ "Bin Laden Reportedly Suffering Kidney, Liver Failure". Chicago Tribune . 25 March 2000.
  56. ↑ "Musharraf, Bin Laden & the Lashkar". www.saag.org. Archived from the original on 7 October 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  57. ↑ "CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July". TheGuardian.com . November 2001.
  58. ↑ Burns, John F. (26 December 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: THE PURSUIT; High-Level Murmurings That bin Laden is Dead". The New York Times.
  59. ↑ "US casts doubt on bin Laden's latest message". The Daily Telegraph . 28 December 2001. Archived from the original on 2023-07-04.
  60. ↑ "Experts Examine Bin Laden Tape". ABC News .
  61. ↑ "CNN.com - Sources: No bodyguards, no bin Laden - July 30, 2002". www.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  62. ↑ "World Tribune.com: Israeli intelligence: Bin Laden is dead, heir has been chosen". 216.26.163.62. Archived from the original on 5 December 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  63. ↑ "CNN.com - Magazine runs what it calls bin Laden's will - Oct. 26, 2002". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  64. ↑ "Rumsfeld Mixes up Hussein, Bin Laden in Speech". Los Angeles Times . 11 September 2004.
  65. ↑ Mazzetti, Mark (4 July 2006). "C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden". The New York Times.
  66. ↑ "Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold'". The Washington Post .
  67. 1 2 Caroline Gammell (May 3, 2011). "Osama bin Laden dead: time for the royal wedding conspiracy theories". Telegraph. London.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.